Monthly Archives: July 2015

How do we heal ourselves, each other, our communities and our planet? Those were the questions that drove me to write my first novel, In the Valley of Lost Souls. My hope is that my words will help us to heal, and will show a few paths to a future where we can all thrive. I wondered how we got to a place where we’re staring down the abyss of environmental destruction and societal collapse. Do we suffer from a kind of collective…..

As activists and volunteers, we’re often exposed to things that are hard to witness. Environmental degradation, poverty and a myriad of unfilled needs can be painful to see. We often have full lives; children, jobs, friends, family and home maintenance all place demands on our time. It can be overwhelming. That’s why self care is so important. Making time for rest, fun and good food are important for all of us, but especially for those those of us who contribute to our communities. When we don’t,…..

When I wrote In the Valley of Lost Souls, I decided to immortalize my cat who passed away a few years ago. My character Phoebe was named after her, and I gave her my dream job: an environmentally friendly interior designer. I studied interior design a number of years ago, but wasn’t in a position to start a business at the time. I’ve helped friends with their design projects over the years, and put great care into making my own home environmentally…..

As I watch celebrities on the global stage, I’m noticing a recurring theme. Many are doing what they can to help to turn our environmentally destructive ways around, and acting on their hunger to live lives of relevance. Recently I’ve heard both Jane Fonda and David Suzuki talk about what they want when they’re on their death beds. They both want to know that they will have done everything in their power to make the world a better place for future generations. This noble impulse is…..

You may be wondering why so many of the characters in The Valley of Lost Souls are vegan. I’ve been vegan for over thirty years and haven’t seen a lot of vegans in fiction. I wanted to validate the many vegans out there, and demonstrate that we’re just ordinary people. Also, since the squatters in my story were watching their pennies and living in tenuous conditions, it made sense that they’d be vegan, since it’s less expensive than eating meat and dairy……

As an author and an activist, having a published novel presents an opportunity to walk my talk. The story I wrote deals with, among other things, proposed pipelines from the Alberta tar sands to the coast of British Columbia (BC) where I live. The Canadian federal government has approved these pipelines even though two thirds of the people in BC don’t want them. The pipelines would disturb sensitive habitat and would run the risk of an oil spill in the beautiful, treacherous waters of…..

I recently listened to the commencement address that Naomi Klein delivered on June 6th, 2015, at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. This college was one of the first schools to divest from fossil fuels. What I got from this message was a refreshing new — or perhaps old, but long buried — perspective that celebrates community on a grand scale. The past few decades, we’ve been groomed to see the world in a way that’s atomized. It’s part of the cultural…..